Current Events
Are you interested in creating plays from the world around you? Is there an issue in the world you're moved to speak out about? This exercise will help you delve into creating a story around a real-world conflict by exploring the many voices involved in a current events issue. It will also direct you to examples of published plays dealing with current events topics.
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You can download a one page printable PDF version of this exercise!
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You will need…
STEP ONE:
Brainstorm a list of current events. Think of problems you would like to change in the world. You may browse the internet or a newspaper for ideas.
STEP TWO:
Choose one of these issues from your list that speaks to you the most. Next, using the worksheet or drawing your own chart, make three columns: one for Point of View 1 or Character 1, one for Point of View 2 or Character 2, and one for Character 3 or Complications.
STEP THREE:
In columns 1 and 2, begin listing characters with very different points of view or experiences of the current events topic you have chosen. Use column 3 to imagine what complications might happen when these characters confront the topic together, or what third character might add to the issue. Below is an example chart using the Philadelphia School District budget crisis as a topic:
- Pen/Pencil
- Worksheet found here or a piece of paper
STEP ONE:
Brainstorm a list of current events. Think of problems you would like to change in the world. You may browse the internet or a newspaper for ideas.
STEP TWO:
Choose one of these issues from your list that speaks to you the most. Next, using the worksheet or drawing your own chart, make three columns: one for Point of View 1 or Character 1, one for Point of View 2 or Character 2, and one for Character 3 or Complications.
STEP THREE:
In columns 1 and 2, begin listing characters with very different points of view or experiences of the current events topic you have chosen. Use column 3 to imagine what complications might happen when these characters confront the topic together, or what third character might add to the issue. Below is an example chart using the Philadelphia School District budget crisis as a topic:
If you have trouble thinking of characters who might conflict with each other over your topic, try considering opposite types of characters, for example: rich vs. poor, man vs. woman, hunter vs. prey, child vs. parent, and imagine how these opposing types of characters might react to your topic.
STEP FOUR:
Choose the pair of characters you are most excited by to continue writing about. Make sure you create an immediate conflict that these characters must solve or negotiate with each other.
STEP FIVE:
Choose a setting for these two characters that will provide either physical or emotional complication (such as a non-accessible building for a handicapped character to have to visit or the office where a laid-off employee used to work).
STEP SIX:
Begin writing a scene between your two characters where they address the complications caused by the current events issue you have chosen. If you get stuck, try writing about a different pair of characters.
BONUS:
Interested in plays which deal with current events from multiple perspectives? Check out these plays:
The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman
ABOUT - BORROW - BUY
In the Continuum by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter
ABOUT - BORROW - BUY
Fires in the Mirror, House Arrest, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, or Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith
ABOUT - BORROW - BUY
©Philadelphia Young Playwrights 2015
STEP FOUR:
Choose the pair of characters you are most excited by to continue writing about. Make sure you create an immediate conflict that these characters must solve or negotiate with each other.
STEP FIVE:
Choose a setting for these two characters that will provide either physical or emotional complication (such as a non-accessible building for a handicapped character to have to visit or the office where a laid-off employee used to work).
STEP SIX:
Begin writing a scene between your two characters where they address the complications caused by the current events issue you have chosen. If you get stuck, try writing about a different pair of characters.
BONUS:
Interested in plays which deal with current events from multiple perspectives? Check out these plays:
The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman
ABOUT - BORROW - BUY
In the Continuum by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter
ABOUT - BORROW - BUY
Fires in the Mirror, House Arrest, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, or Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith
ABOUT - BORROW - BUY
©Philadelphia Young Playwrights 2015